From Bad, to Cursed
by Mandarin Fiend
Summary: This is the story of how an ice collector, a thief, and a prince cause a war, set off an eternal winter, and find a lost princess.


Hans cursed his bad luck under his breath as he stalked away from the party. How was he supposed to know that the pretty peasant girl he knocked into the ocean with his horse, and then barked at for getting in his way, was actually Princess Anna of Arendelle, sister of Queen Elsa?

She'd been wearing a drab brown dress, and although Hans could admit she was lovely, especially sopping wet with all that fabric clinging to… well, he saw no reason to be especially polite or helpful to a mere commoner.

When he saw her at the coronation party in all her royal regalia with her hair elegantly done up, standing beside her equally beautiful sister with her head held high and her back ramrod straight, Hans gulped.

As Hans bowed low over the Queen's gloved hand and introduced himself, he felt Princess Anna's glare like tiny icy needles all over his body.

"How nice see you again Prince Hans," said Princess Anna, the words laced with venom as he bowed over her hand. She was smiling demurely, but the way her eyes were narrowed gave away how displeased she was.

"You two have met before?" asked Queen Elsa.

"Well, you see-" before Hans could get another word in Anna cut him off.

"_Yes_ Elsa we have. I met Prince Hans this morning, down by the wharf. He was on horseback, not paying very close attention to where he was going and we sort of… _bumped_ into one another." she smiled at him sweetly.

"Oh I see... Well do send my regards to your family Hans. I have had the honour of meeting a few of your brothers." there was a wry twist to the kind smile Elsa bestowed on him.

He knew as well as she did that after Anna and Elsa's parents died in a tragic accident three years earlier, some of Han's older brothers had come to try and win her hand in marriage to become the new king of Arendelle.

Needless to say, none of their plans came to fruition, and the whole incident was so embarrassing that the three brothers in questions, (numbers 3, 6, and 8) forbid anyone from mentioning it. All three pretended he was invisible for two whole years when he mentioned the North Mountain in passing simply because the North Mountain was located in Arendelle.

Rumours got around anyway, and Hans was led to believe that Princess Anna had sent them on wild goose chases to complete silly tasks that were supposed to win Elsa's regard. In reality, they were devised to get them out of the way so Elsa could devote all her time to her new duties. She had never had any intention of taking a husband.

For both sisters, the Kingdom of Arendelle and its people came first, and that meant securing Elsa's authority as the leader of Arendelle and not letting any foreign powers think that just because they were young, they could be trifled with.

Over the past three years both sisters had more than proved themselves. Elsa stayed in Arendelle and led her people with grace and dignity.

Anna travelled to other kingdoms regularly to strengthen their friendships and trade agreements.

Under Elsa's cool calm leadership with Anna's enthusiastic help, Arendelle had flourished.

Hans had hoped to charm one of the sisters, preferably Elsa, into marrying him. He was the best looking of his twelve brothers in his humble opinion, and quite capable to being very charming when necessary.

He asked Queen Elsa to dance, but she politely declined and offered him her sister's hand instead.

Anna glared at her sister as Hans led her out onto the dance floor.

"I'd like to formally apologise to the princess of Arendelle for hitting her with my horse... and everything after," said Hans, taking Anna's small hand in his and placing the other at her waist. He broke out his most endearing smile.

Anna stomped on his foot and Hans had to stifle a pained yelp.

"Listen to me carefully Prince Hans," said Anna, her voice low and threatening, "I know why you're here and it won't work. Neither I nor Elsa will marry you. So you can go back to the Southern Isles and tell your twelve brothers that you failed."

After their dance Anna stormed back to her sister's side in high dudgeon.

Suffice to say Hans' plan had failed, and he'd have to try another kingdom with hopefully more romantically inclined princesses who would be receptive to his overtures.

He collected his horse from the royal stable and galloped through the empty streets down to the port, cursing his wretched luck all the way.

All the streets were empty for the towns people were all at the castle celebrating, and would probably be doing so for the rest of the night. He figured he may as well retire to his chambers aboard his boat. He was in too fowl a mood make a good impression on any of the other foreign dignitaries who may have princesses of marriageable age in line for the throne.

Because he was lost in thought he didn't see the person on the gangplank. For the second time in less than 24 hours he hit a person with his horse sending them into the ocean.

"This is just great. Doesn't anyone in this godforsaken_ kingdom look where they're going!?_" he huffed; pulling on the reins so he could make sure they weren't drowning.

It was dark so Hans couldn't really see anything in the water, but he could hear spluttering. Good, a sign of life.

"Watch where you're going next time!" he yelled angrily.

"Aren't you going to help me?" it was a female voice.

"I am a Prince. I have more important things to attend to than pulling rubbish out of the ocean. Don't get in my way again." he replied angrily. This had to be the worst night ever.

He kicked his heels into his horse's side and urged it into a trot towards his boat.

Suddenly a bright light appeared in front of him, and he was momentarily blinded. Hans lost his seating and fell hard on his right arm. His horse panicked and galloped away.

The light was coming closer and closer towards him. Hans found himself frozen to the spot, he wanted to scream, run, _anything,_ but he found himself incapable. An old woman materialised seemingly out of thin air in front of him. She was sopping wet, her long white hair plastered to her face. Two gnarled bony hand stuck out the sleeves of the long black cloak she was wearing. She held an ornate lamp aloft, swinging it gently in front of his face.

The light from the lamp was mesmerising, it resonated and Hans found himself wishing he could touch it.

"Prince Hans of the Southern Iles, do you know who I am?" said the old woman in a strong voice that belied her frail appearance. He shook his head.

"I am the old woman who knows magic and I do not take kindly to whippersnappers like yourself pushing me into the ocean!" her voice rose in volume with each word until she was bellowing. She stepped forward and placed a hand on Hans' forehead.

Her weathered hand was cold, and then suddenly it was freezing against his skin, so cold it burned. It occurred to Hans that knocking into this woman was an even bigger mistake than knocking Princess Anna into the ocean.

Then she released him and Hans fell to the ground. Black spots appeared in front of his eyes and tried to blink them away.

"The best part about this spell is that you can't tell anyone about It." cackled the old woman. It was the last thing Hans heard before descending into oblivion.

* * *

><p><strong>What did you think? Kristoff POV is next, and then Flynn after that. :)<strong>


End file.
